Me and Sally met Helen at Heathrow on Saturday morning. We managed to keep her and Emma talking about their holiday as we walked back to the car park, and once we were there we told them about Dad passing away. They were obviously upset. We'd been worried that Helen might be cross with us for not telling her on Friday before she travelled but when we explained the reasoning behind our decision, she completely understood and wasn't cross at all.
Yesterday we went to church. As it was a family service for harvest festival, Dad wasn't mentioned in prayers although Valerie said he had been mentioned at the 8.00 service. Afterwards she gave us a private prayer in the lady chapel.
We went back to Dad's house after the service and started gathering some photos for me to use in the slide show at the wake. We've found some fantastic ones - from when he was very young, from his army days, in his football kit and cricket gear.
This morning I've been calling some people from his address book, plus spoken to the bank and the council about what to do next. Everybody has been really helpful and sympathetic which of course sets me off. Probably didn't help that I listed to "Dance with my Father" by Luther Vandross. That was a bad move on my part!